What Are You Laughing at: How to Write Funny Screenplays, Stories, and More

by Brad Schreiber

"The definitive book on how to "write funny" is the first to compare writing comedic screenplays with fiction and nonfiction in all forms. Using principles developed in his popular UCLA Extension Writers' Program class on humor writing and his CBS Studio City seminars on screenwriting, Schreiber includes: more than 70 excerpts from such top prose and screenwriters as Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; unique writing exercises developed exclusively for this book; and vital information on writing comedy for TV, stage, and audio." Where else would you find 11 Modes of Comedic Dialouge, 13 Things Bad Screenwriters Commonly Do and The Cream of Wheat Theory of Exposition?

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Thomas London · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing a reader can say about any non-fiction or how-to is it changed your mind on at least one thing. Mission accomplished Brad. Picked up a full-priced copy at a screenplay festival, I still fish out this nugget and flip to my post-it note bookmarks when I get stuck. Comedy remains, always in my mind, jumping over the banana peel and falling into the open manhole.

[Cate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book helped me write humor a little. But the author puts a lot of emphasis on writing humor for the screen.
There is cussing in this book, and the amount of language increases the farther you get in the book.

[Paula Brierley · Rating 1 out of 5]

On good grief.

This is the worst book on the craft of writing ever penned. It's painful, laboriously so, to read from page one. I want my wasted money back.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprised at the low reviews! A lot of insight into a niche style of comedy writing.

[Kathleen Guler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was disappointing, especially as it was recommended by a good friend who is a gifted writer. Perhaps I was expecting something different but it caters to the beginning writer and didn't really seem to go into much depth about writing at all, let alone writing humor. I gave up halfway through, sorry to say.